“Women Tell: Our Stories Through the Decades,” Guilford, CT
To see other videos of Adair’s storytelling, please click here.
Adair’s original true stories told live.
Adair has performed with Northeast Storytelling, True Tales Live, Tell Me Another, Women Tell, PechaKucha, The BAT (Bridgeport Art Trail Storytelling), We Rise Storytelling Collective
This Little Light of Mine – 10 min. An excellent trip into the art world. Starting with Adair creating a linoleum block print in high school and decades later discovering she has been in perfectionism recovery for years, and is still trying to get it right. Performed on Zoom for True Tales Live, Portsmouth, NH. Adair’s story runs 4:28-16:05 with an interesting Q&A starting at 41:49
The Backstory Interview with Adair Heitmann – 21 min. True Tales Live interviews Adair taking a look at the behind the scenes at the art and craft of storytelling and on how she got started in storytelling.
Art Saved my Life: Journey of a Lifetime – 7 min. Growing up in a family who kept secrets, Adair learned to keep her mouth shut. She used visual art to express complex narratives in pictures. Then when she lost her art in a flood she surrendered to the forces of change and added the spoken word to her creative palette. PechaKucha at the Bijou Theatre, Bridgeport, CT
Love Through the Tides of Time – 14 min. Overcoming obstacles and hardships, Adair’s Japanese godmother chosen by love, Kazue Mizumura (1920-1996), immigrates to the US from Japan to create an independent life as a woman author and artist and she becomes a mentor to Adair. Women Tell: Our Stories Through the Decades, Madison, CT
Returns and Refunds – 8 min. After kissing a lot of frogs and returning them to the pond Adair finds her true love. We Rise Storytelling Collective, Hub & Spoke, Bridgeport, CT
Creativity is the Mother of Reinvention – 7 min. Living in five different places before she started kindergarten, including Aberdeen Scotland, the island of Sanday in the Orkney islands, Virginia, Texas, and Connecticut shapes Adair’s life in terms of texture, diversity, and her desire to always try something new. PechaKucha at the Bijou Theatre, Bridgeport, CT
See Anything You Like Sweetheart – 8 min. It’s 1972, Adair escapes her boyfriend’s father’s misogyny in a men’s bar with a pole dancer in order to maintain her independence and dignity. Tell Me Another, Hartford Flavor Company, Hartford, CT
Seek and You Shall Not Find – 7 min. Hitting dead-ends while unravelling the plot-line of her story, on the theme of “Irony,” becomes the story! PechaKucha Bridgeport Art Trail, Bridgeport, CT
Libraries Transform Lives – 10 min. Adair shares through the passage of time the many ways libraries enter and shape people’s lives. Stratford Library 125th Anniversary, Stratford, CT
Surrendering to the Light – 7 min. Surviving a life-threatening disease twice, Adair relies on the power of her nighttime dreams to guide her way. We Rise Storytelling Collective, Hub & Spoke, Bridgeport, CT
What is Home? – 8 min. Trained while growing up to be polite and tactful, Adair marries into a big, boisterous Viking family and discovers what home really can feel like. We Rise Storytelling Collective, Hub & Spoke, Bridgeport, CT
There’s Nothing Like the Present: Tim’s Story – 8 min. After the funeral of one of her brother-in-laws, Adair discovers an unexpected legacy in one of his daughters. We Rise Storytelling Collective, Hub & Spoke, Bridgeport, CT
Lit on Life – 8 min. Adair shares an intimate, sometimes humorous, sometimes heart-wrenching story about a variety of cocktails and Adair’s personal connections to them. We Rise Storytelling Collective, Hub & Spoke, Bridgeport, CT
Begin Again – 5 min. Natural disaster strikes five days after moving into her new home. Adair eloquently shares the commandment that came to her in the midst of the devastation. Northeast Storytelling, Westport Library, Westport, CT
Storytelling Appearances & Events
- Gather the Women Global Matrix Winter Storytelling Series, online, March 16, 2025
- NEST (Northeast Storytelling) New Members Showcase, online, November 21, 2024
- True Tales Live, Portsmouth, NH, October 29, 2024
- Storytelling Sundays, Northeast Storytelling, The Westport Library, Westport, CT 2024
- Tell Me Another, Hartford, CT 2024
- Women Tell: Our Stories Through the Decades, Madison, CT 2023
- PechaKucha Night Bridgeport, CT, 2023 and 2022
- Her story was “Creativity is the Mother of Reinvention.”
- The BAT (Bridgeport Art Trail) Storytelling Exchange, Bridgeport, CT
- September 2023 – The Light
- May 2023, Six to Six Inter-district Magnet School, Bridgeport, CT
- January 2023 – Returns and Refunds
- April 2022 – What is Home?
- December 2021 – No Time Like the Present
- August 2021 – LIT
- PechaKucha Night Bridgeport, CT, 2021. A fast-paced (6:40) true story with accompanying slides presented live at an international visual storytelling experience about Reinvention and Discovery.
Selected Past Speeches & Workshops
“Clearance for Takeoff”
“A.R.T.: Art, Reflection, Transformation”
Click here for more information on Adair’s workshops and teaching.